This is a story about a little boy named Smith. Yes that is indeed his first name and unfortunately for him, also his last. Smith Smith. How many years of teasing this unfriendly
yoke his parents shouldered him with had caused him. I’m sure his parents did not realize what a difficult life their boy would face over this little joke of theirs, but oh what a life
indeed.

Smith spent most of his young years avoiding other children. There was nothing wrong with Smith, he was actually a very smart, athletic and at times wickedly funny blonde hair blue eyed
boy. No one ever knew all there was to him since he did not get the chance to display his prowess. His ridiculous moniker was the target of all the mean ugly boys’ jabs and he learned
at a young age to not be noticed. If pitted against any of them in school or a sporting event, Smith would have made short business of them all, at everything. But alas, such was the
plight of Smith Smith.

Yes, this is a story about Smith Smith, an enormous talent hidden away behind a shy scared little boy.

Until one day. Oh Yes, until one day…

Smith lived with his parents and one older brother in a small apartment home in the middle of what used to be known as Junkersville. Smith’s older brother was named Jack, but Smith had little
to nothing to do with Jack. Smith was always curious why his parents saw fit to name their first born son a normal human being first name like Jack but to go against all of history and ruin
his life with such a stupid first name as Smith. In another situation the first name Smith may have flown quite nicely but not when your last name already is Smith.

Anyway, Smith lived with his parents and older brother Jack in Junkersville for what Smith would say was “oh so ever too long.”

I’ll leave it up to you to imagine Smiths young life and how uncolorfully boring it was. We’ll pick up the story of Smith Smith when he was just about to turn 13. Oh the glorious age of
13. Amazing things happen to young boys when they turn 13. His parents didn’t know what Smith was capable of and turning 13 didn’t hold any significance to them, but to Smith, turning
13 meant his world was about to change.

As Smith was walking home from school this particular Friday afternoon, humming one of his original symphony pieces while solving complex mathematical algorithms and observing the complex color
structure of the setting sun, he noticed an unusually shaped scrap of paper behaving very oddly. The paper seemed to be floating or dancing along the alley a little ways out in front of
him. Smith stopped to admire the piece of paper for a moment before realizing the paper seemed to be moving along with his movements. When Smith took a step forward, the paper danced a
step forward. When Smith took a side step to the left, the paper flipped around to the left. When Smith ducked down the paper seemed to bend in half to touch the ground along with
him. The paper changed colors as it moved, transitioning from a metallic blue to pink and a lovely dark green depending on how the sun struck it.

This, Smith observed, was extremely odd behavior for an inanimate object and seemed to defy all known laws of gravity, physics, and plain common sense combined.

What should Smith do? Enjoy this tiny piece of amazing for a while? Run in fright not knowing what this was? Grab it and try to figure out the physical properties?

He decided to enjoy the unusual companion for a while, spinning around, jumping up and down then watching the paper move in like fashion, portraying its stunning color scheme with each movement.
Smith was completely enraptured with this wonderful companion.

Then, all of sudden Smith realized there was a tiny hum coming from the piece of paper. He had not noticed this prior. He stopped to listen. Smith was shocked as he recognized the
sound. It was his own symphony he had been humming as he was walking along. Smith froze in astonishment. This was not possible. He had not shared his music with anyone and
certainly wasn’t humming loud enough for anyone, or anything for that matter, to hear.

Smith was a little frightened at this new development. What was this amazing piece of paper that seemed to have a life of its own, but more curious than that; could apparently hear his
thoughts? As he was contemplating these things a group of laughing school boys rounded the corner at the end of the ally. Smith was ripped from his trance and his gaze was instantly
diverted past the wondrous dancing article to the newly identified danger. The paper, almost as if it sensed the presence of the boys immediately became lifeless and dropped to the ground in front
of Smith. Smith looked down and saw the paper lying still on the ground. Sadness welled up inside him but he had no time to linger in his sadness as a sharp shrill yell pierced the
silence. Smith stepped back at the noise and looked quickly back to the boys. They were standing four abreast, an ominous wall of impending hostility staring back at him.

“SMITH!” a middle boy yelled again. “What ya doin’ there boy” he called. The other boys snickered at this. “Huh? What’s the matter Smith. I said what ya doin’”

Smith did not know what to do. He didn’t want to leave the paper but he didn’t want to entice the boys to walk towards him either. The danger of one of them stamping or trodding the
paper raced through Smith’s mind. Of course he had no way of knowing if a step from one of them would do any damage but this was something he did not want to chance.

Smith swallowed hard and took a few steps towards the boys. As he passed the paper he heard a light dragging noise. He stopped and turned to see the paper had moved along with him and
was trailing a few steps behind him. What? Smith did not want to endanger the paper. His plan was to move past the paper and engage the boys himself, leaving the paper a safe distance
behind. This, however, changed things. The paper stayed with him.

Not wanting to draw any more attention the paper, Smith stopped in his tracks, so did the paper.

“What” he called out to the boys as he returned their gaze. “What do you want”?

“Eh? What do we want? What kind of question is that?” chided the middle boy who apparently was the spokesman for the group. “We just want to play with you, that’s all”

“Play” right, that was a euphemism Smith was all too familiar with. It meant one of two things. It either meant they were going to rip his backpack off and while two of them held him
the other two would rifle through it seeking loose change. This would inevitably lead to them rudely dumping the contents out onto the ground; or it simply meant they looked to rough him up a
bit. It always depended on the mood of the boys and whether or not they had succeeded in previously securing funds from home or another poor victim.

Smith grew very impatient with the group of boys as all he really wanted to do was turn around and interact with his new found interest. The paper would have to wait but Smith was not in the
mood for the boys at this particular moment. New emotions coursed through Smith that he never allowed before and he slowly raised his head to the boys. His eyes carried a much different
look than the boys were used to seeing from him which caught them off guard for a moment. All four stopped approaching as there was something deeply menacing in those eyes glaring back at
them. None of them expected this and none of them quite knew what to do. After all they still were just boys themselves and Smith had always been an easy target putting up little to no
fight. But this, this was something different, something on the verge of frightening.

Smith slowly clenched his fingers into two tightly wound fists. All the boys noticed this but none wanted to appear weak in front of the others.

As Smith positioned his feet into a fighting stance it almost appeared as if he was physically daring any of them to come closer. The boys fidgeted for a moment until the leader of the pack,
wanting to still seem strong and confident, started to laugh albeit a slightly more nervous laugh than usual.

“Now what do we have here boys, little old Smithy thinks he’s going to fight us this time eh?” This seemed to break the uncomfortable silence and the other boys started laughing as well, even
though none of them drew any closer.

“What do you think you’re going to do here Smith? Fight us all? You know who you are and you know who we are, you don’t stand a chance!”

Usually he was right, Smith never stood a chance against even one of them before, but that was then, this was a new day. The day Smith took a stand for himself and his unusual paper friend.

It all happened so fast. The four boys didn’t see it coming and none of them could really explain afterwards just what exactly had happened. A loud cracking sound rocked through the
alley and a blinding flash of bluish pink light shot through the boys’ eyes causing them all to stumble backwards. One boy ended up with his entire arm fully pulled through a hole in the
chain link fence running down one side of the alley, it took the other three boys several minutes to extricate the boys arm, all in one piece but insanely sore. One boy remembered his
stocking hat being pulled down over his face then going airborne before crashing onto a pile of soft stuff and hearing a loud crash over his head. This boy would soon realize he had been
lofted into a nearby dumpster with the morning garbage. The third boy didn’t remember how he ended up in a tree but that’s where he found himself, firmly lodged in a nook halfway up a
tree. The fourth boy, the leader of them remembers something gripping his legs and flipping him end over end before being sent hurtling through a garage door next to the dumpster.
He came to with his pants tied around his waist.

This type of thing didn’t happen to these type of boys. They ran the neighborhood and the school. No one ever stood up to them before and none of them had ever been thrown around like
that. The oddest thing of all was the seemingly lack of memory they all had regarding the days incident. They all agreed about the loud cracking sound and blinding light, but that’s
it. Besides that none of them could remember quite what had happened to them.

But Smith knew and he wasn’t telling. Smith saw it all. At first he fell to the ground at the loud cracking sound as it came from directly behind him. Was more of an involuntary move
than anything, like any of us do when a loud noise startles us so.

The flash of light was not nearly a flash to Smith. In fact, the whole scene played out as if it were in slow motion from Smith’s perspective.

He saw the light but it wasn’t just a light, it was the trail from the piece of paper as it darted from boy to boy. Normal eyes couldn’t see it but Smith watched the paper dismantle the boys
clear as day. The strangest thing about it to Smith wasn’t that a piece of paper was flying around or that it was picking boys up and throwing them through the air. What really impressed
Smith was how the paper seemed to bend the air as it moved. Large waves of motion rippled around the paper with every move, as if the air itself was pushing the boys around.

Now, Smith is a very intelligent boy as I mentioned earlier and if he was simply told about this event he would logically conclude it to be a fabrication, someone’s imagination getting the better
of them. But he couldn’t do that now, he was the one who witnessed the unusual site so he had only one choice; believe it because he saw it. Smith was very intrigued by the paper to
begin with, even before the boys showed up, this only made Smith outrageously interested in it even more so.

Once the boys were put in their place, Smith quickly walked up to the paper and simply held out his hand. The piece of paper jumped right in and settled into his palm as Smith made quite the
hasty exit from the scene.

SMITH

This is a story about a little boy named Smith. Yes that is indeed his first name and unfortunately for him, also his last. Smith Smith. How many years of teasing this unfriendly
yoke his parents shouldered him with had caused him. I’m sure his parents did not realize what a difficult life their boy would face over this little joke of theirs, but oh what a life
indeed.

Smith spent most of his young years avoiding other children. There was nothing wrong with Smith, he was actually a very smart, athletic and at times wickedly funny blonde hair blue eyed
boy. No one ever knew all there was to him since he did not get the chance to display his prowess. His ridiculous moniker was the target of all the mean ugly boys’ jabs and he learned
at a young age to not be noticed. If pitted against any of them in school or a sporting event, Smith would have made short business of them all, at everything. But alas, such was the
plight of Smith Smith.

Yes, this is a story about Smith Smith, an enormous talent hidden away behind a shy scared little boy.

Until one day. Oh Yes, until one day…

Smith lived with his parents and one older brother in a small apartment home in the middle of what used to be known as Junkersville. Smith’s older brother was named Jack, but Smith had little
to nothing to do with Jack. Smith was always curious why his parents saw fit to name their first born son a normal human being first name like Jack but to go against all of history and ruin
his life with such a stupid first name as Smith. In another situation the first name Smith may have flown quite nicely but not when your last name already is Smith.

Anyway, Smith lived with his parents and older brother Jack in Junkersville for what Smith would say was “oh so ever too long.”

I’ll leave it up to you to imagine Smiths young life and how uncolorfully boring it was. We’ll pick up the story of Smith Smith when he was just about to turn 13. Oh the glorious age of
13. Amazing things happen to young boys when they turn 13. His parents didn’t know what Smith was capable of and turning 13 didn’t hold any significance to them, but to Smith, turning
13 meant his world was about to change.

As Smith was walking home from school this particular Friday afternoon, humming one of his original symphony pieces while solving complex mathematical algorithms and observing the complex color
structure of the setting sun, he noticed an unusually shaped scrap of paper behaving very oddly. The paper seemed to be floating or dancing along the alley a little ways out in front of
him. Smith stopped to admire the piece of paper for a moment before realizing the paper seemed to be moving along with his movements. When Smith took a step forward, the paper danced a
step forward. When Smith took a side step to the left, the paper flipped around to the left. When Smith ducked down the paper seemed to bend in half to touch the ground along with
him. The paper changed colors as it moved, transitioning from a metallic blue to pink and a lovely dark green depending on how the sun struck it.

This, Smith observed, was extremely odd behavior for an inanimate object and seemed to defy all known laws of gravity, physics, and plain common sense combined.

What should Smith do? Enjoy this tiny piece of amazing for a while? Run in fright not knowing what this was? Grab it and try to figure out the physical properties?

He decided to enjoy the unusual companion for a while, spinning around, jumping up and down then watching the paper move in like fashion, portraying its stunning color scheme with each movement.
Smith was completely enraptured with this wonderful companion.

Then, all of sudden Smith realized there was a tiny hum coming from the piece of paper. He had not noticed this prior. He stopped to listen. Smith was shocked as he recognized the
sound. It was his own symphony he had been humming as he was walking along. Smith froze in astonishment. This was not possible. He had not shared his music with anyone and
certainly wasn’t humming loud enough for anyone, or anything for that matter, to hear.

Smith was a little frightened at this new development. What was this amazing piece of paper that seemed to have a life of its own, but more curious than that; could apparently hear his
thoughts? As he was contemplating these things a group of laughing school boys rounded the corner at the end of the ally. Smith was ripped from his trance and his gaze was instantly
diverted past the wondrous dancing article to the newly identified danger. The paper, almost as if it sensed the presence of the boys immediately became lifeless and dropped to the ground in front
of Smith. Smith looked down and saw the paper lying still on the ground. Sadness welled up inside him but he had no time to linger in his sadness as a sharp shrill yell pierced the
silence. Smith stepped back at the noise and looked quickly back to the boys. They were standing four abreast, an ominous wall of impending hostility staring back at him.

“SMITH!” a middle boy yelled again. “What ya doin’ there boy” he called. The other boys snickered at this. “Huh? What’s the matter Smith. I said what ya doin’”

Smith did not know what to do. He didn’t want to leave the paper but he didn’t want to entice the boys to walk towards him either. The danger of one of them stamping or trodding the
paper raced through Smith’s mind. Of course he had no way of knowing if a step from one of them would do any damage but this was something he did not want to chance.

Smith swallowed hard and took a few steps towards the boys. As he passed the paper he heard a light dragging noise. He stopped and turned to see the paper had moved along with him and
was trailing a few steps behind him. What? Smith did not want to endanger the paper. His plan was to move past the paper and engage the boys himself, leaving the paper a safe distance
behind. This, however, changed things. The paper stayed with him.

Not wanting to draw any more attention the paper, Smith stopped in his tracks, so did the paper.

“What” he called out to the boys as he returned their gaze. “What do you want”?

“Eh? What do we want? What kind of question is that?” chided the middle boy who apparently was the spokesman for the group. “We just want to play with you, that’s all”

“Play” right, that was a euphemism Smith was all too familiar with. It meant one of two things. It either meant they were going to rip his backpack off and while two of them held him
the other two would rifle through it seeking loose change. This would inevitably lead to them rudely dumping the contents out onto the ground; or it simply meant they looked to rough him up a
bit. It always depended on the mood of the boys and whether or not they had succeeded in previously securing funds from home or another poor victim.

Smith grew very impatient with the group of boys as all he really wanted to do was turn around and interact with his new found interest. The paper would have to wait but Smith was not in the
mood for the boys at this particular moment. New emotions coursed through Smith that he never allowed before and he slowly raised his head to the boys. His eyes carried a much different
look than the boys were used to seeing from him which caught them off guard for a moment. All four stopped approaching as there was something deeply menacing in those eyes glaring back at
them. None of them expected this and none of them quite knew what to do. After all they still were just boys themselves and Smith had always been an easy target putting up little to no
fight. But this, this was something different, something on the verge of frightening.

Smith slowly clenched his fingers into two tightly wound fists. All the boys noticed this but none wanted to appear weak in front of the others.

As Smith positioned his feet into a fighting stance it almost appeared as if he was physically daring any of them to come closer. The boys fidgeted for a moment until the leader of the pack,
wanting to still seem strong and confident, started to laugh albeit a slightly more nervous laugh than usual.

“Now what do we have here boys, little old Smithy thinks he’s going to fight us this time eh?” This seemed to break the uncomfortable silence and the other boys started laughing as well, even
though none of them drew any closer.

“What do you think you’re going to do here Smith? Fight us all? You know who you are and you know who we are, you don’t stand a chance!”

Usually he was right, Smith never stood a chance against even one of them before, but that was then, this was a new day. The day Smith took a stand for himself and his unusual paper friend.

It all happened so fast. The four boys didn’t see it coming and none of them could really explain afterwards just what exactly had happened. A loud cracking sound rocked through the
alley and a blinding flash of bluish pink light shot through the boys’ eyes causing them all to stumble backwards. One boy ended up with his entire arm fully pulled through a hole in the
chain link fence running down one side of the alley, it took the other three boys several minutes to extricate the boys arm, all in one piece but insanely sore. One boy remembered his
stocking hat being pulled down over his face then going airborne before crashing onto a pile of soft stuff and hearing a loud crash over his head. This boy would soon realize he had been
lofted into a nearby dumpster with the morning garbage. The third boy didn’t remember how he ended up in a tree but that’s where he found himself, firmly lodged in a nook halfway up a
tree. The fourth boy, the leader of them remembers something gripping his legs and flipping him end over end before being sent hurtling through a garage door next to the dumpster.
He came to with his pants tied around his waist.

This type of thing didn’t happen to these type of boys. They ran the neighborhood and the school. No one ever stood up to them before and none of them had ever been thrown around like
that. The oddest thing of all was the seemingly lack of memory they all had regarding the days incident. They all agreed about the loud cracking sound and blinding light, but that’s
it. Besides that none of them could remember quite what had happened to them.

But Smith knew and he wasn’t telling. Smith saw it all. At first he fell to the ground at the loud cracking sound as it came from directly behind him. Was more of an involuntary move
than anything, like any of us do when a loud noise startles us so.

The flash of light was not nearly a flash to Smith. In fact, the whole scene played out as if it were in slow motion from Smith’s perspective.

He saw the light but it wasn’t just a light, it was the trail from the piece of paper as it darted from boy to boy. Normal eyes couldn’t see it but Smith watched the paper dismantle the boys
clear as day. The strangest thing about it to Smith wasn’t that a piece of paper was flying around or that it was picking boys up and throwing them through the air. What really impressed
Smith was how the paper seemed to bend the air as it moved. Large waves of motion rippled around the paper with every move, as if the air itself was pushing the boys around.

Now, Smith is a very intelligent boy as I mentioned earlier and if he was simply told about this event he would logically conclude it to be a fabrication, someone’s imagination getting the better
of them. But he couldn’t do that now, he was the one who witnessed the unusual site so he had only one choice; believe it because he saw it. Smith was very intrigued by the paper to
begin with, even before the boys showed up, this only made Smith outrageously interested in it even more so.

Once the boys were put in their place, Smith quickly walked up to the paper and simply held out his hand. The piece of paper jumped right in and settled into his palm as Smith made quite the
hasty exit from the scene.